Prepared to tackle quicks: Rohit

India’s in-form opener Rohit Sharma acknowledged the quality pace attack of Pakistan but said they would prefer to focus on their strength, which is the batting.

India’s top order failed against the Bangladeshi pacemen but Rohit said there was no need to ring the alarm bells yet.  “We know they have a good attack. But we have a good batting lineup. We have to adjust to the wicket. We have good spinners and seamers. All of us have our respective strengths,” said Rohit.

“It will happen that you lose a couple of wickets early on, but we have a solid team which at any given point is willing to take up the challenge. Last game, it was a chance for the middle order to come and show what they can do. Hardik Pandya smashed it around and got us the momentum, which was very important from the team perspective.

“Knowing we are going to play on similar wickets going forward, I’m sure all the batters are up for it,” said Rohit, looking at the Pak attack featuring the dangerous Mohammed Aamir, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan.

“I have played Amir before but I am preparing for all of them. In the last game also we played the left-arm bowlers. We have to be well prepared. We are up for the challenge. All their bowlers have been playing T20 of late, so they are experienced,” Rohit said.

“It’s an important game. Leading up to the World Cup, every game will be important for us. The game we had last night was a perfect example. We want to play games like that every now and then.”

Rohit said the pitch was tough to bat on because of which he rated his innings of 83 off 55 balls against Bangladesh highly. “It was really unusual to see that wicket. I would rate that innings much higher, because the odds were against us. We lost wickets at regular intervals. For me, it was about batting as long as possible as a top-order batsman. I am glad I could do that and get the team to a decent target.”

 Rohit felt maintaining the same squad has helped the team to shape up for the World T20. “It just shows we have a solid team and the players are ready at any point of time to take up the challenge. That also shows the consistency of this team," he said.
DH News Service